The Henry County Water Authority recently clinched its first state championship in the Meter Madness competition, a timed event in which contestants assembled a standard water meter in the shortest amount of time.

The contest was part of the Georgia Association of Water Professionals annual spring conference in Macon earlier this month.

Dwayne Lenning, who works in valve maintenance for the water authority, broke the event record, took home the championship title and received $2,000 from the Georgia chapter of contest sponsor American Water Works Association.

Each contestant assembled a water meter from a bucket of parts three times.

Judges averaged their scores to get the final results.

Lenning not only won the competition but beat the record with a time of 35 seconds.

Coworker Nic Spann came in second, although during practice sessions leading up to the state competition, he usually won.

“I just didn’t have it that day. I don’t know what happened,” Spann said in a statement. “Dwayne knows how often I have beaten him, so that’s gratifying enough for me.”

“We practiced for a long time,” he said. “Maybe for two and half months leading up to the actual competition.”

Roger Wilhelm, the contest sponsor’s distribution committee chairman, said he was impressed with Lenning.

“His time was very impressive and among the best we’ve seen when compared to past champions,” Wilhelm said in a statement. “I think he will do really well at the national competition and he might even bring that title home to Georgia.”

Lenning now goes on to vie for the national title during ACE-13, the annual conference and exposition of the American Water Works Association, in Denver, Colo., on June 10.

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